Any tricks for faster Suspend/Resume?

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

For a faster suspend or resume one can assign less memory to a VM. Which slows down normal operation because the VM uses more of its swap space.

But there must be more ways to speed up the suspend/resume with so many memory-related options in the .vmx. Anyone know of any?

[continuum]

Not using a mainem-file also helps to speed up suspend and resume.

On Windows add

mainmem.useNamedFile = "false"

edit: typo corrected




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VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[WoodyZ]

mainmem.useNamesdFile = "false"

It should be:

mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"

There is no "s" in this parameters name.

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

Done that. What else?

If memory is trimmed away from the VM (whatever that means), shouldn't the saved .vmem file be smaller?

In general, shouldn't unused memory be ignored when .vmem is saved?

Does MemAllowAutoScaleDown affect resuming?

[continuum]

If memory is trimmed away from the VM (whatever that means), shouldn't the saved .vmem file be smaller?

nope - the amount of vRAM is a fixed value - trimming only changes where the vmem file is allocated during use

Does MemAllowAutoScaleDown affect resuming?

nope - that only helps to prevent activation issues with MS-VMs because it disables to change the amount of vRAM

If quick suspend and resume is important look at older Workstation versions




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VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

Does the following make sense as a feature request?

"Ignore unused memory when .vmem is saved"

[continuum]

sorry - I have to change my recommendation after doing some tests using different settings.

I am writing a summary now




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VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

Just noticed something about .vmem files. They're full of 0's.

So if they were run-length-encoded before they are saved, Suspend would probably be 3 times as fast.

Can't believe vmware is keeping so quiet about .vmx and config.ini parameters that we have to reverse-engineer everything.

[continuum · Accepted solution]

teh behaviour has changed a lot since 6.5.4 - old tweaks no longer have the expected effect.

WS7 now always re-creates the vmem file when using suspend or resume - that means it is much slower then WS 6.5 when doing suspend or resume .

I made some tests - see

http://faq.sanbarrow.com/index.php?action=artikel&cat=3&id=79&artlang=en




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VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

That's cool. On top of useNamedFile set to true, notice the partialLazy's set to false make it a little faster.

Never understood the standard recommendation for useNamedfile set to false. No sensible man is using usb thumbdrives for their VM's because they're slow and vmware is not portable, you can't run it at any cafe.

[continuum]

Never understood the standard recommendation for useNamedfile set to false.

Hmm - I set that parameter in my config.ini as it significantly speeds up my VMs.

They are more responsive and react faster.

The suspend or resume times are not important for me.

notice the partialLazy's set to false make it a little faster.

With WS 7 that parameter seems to have very little influence - if any at all.




_________________________

VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

continuum: "I set that parameter in my config.ini as it significantly speeds up my VMs.

They are more responsive and react faster."

Do you recommend any settings like priority.grabbed/ungrabbed?

Anything else to make them responsive and react faster during normal operation?

[continuum]

I see that some folks set

priority.grabbed = "high"

in the config.ini

I would advice against doing so as nowadays OS handle this quite well if left alone.




_________________________

VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook